Rumor: Walmart is considering its own video game streaming service

It seems as if just about everyone wants to start a streaming service for video games. By now you know about Google’s Stadia platform and that Microsoft is hard at work readying Xcloud for launch. Sony has been at it for years with PlayStation Now. It seems that a new challenger may appear as rumors suggest none other than Walmart has been in discussions to develop their own video game streaming service. Some of these meetings may even have occurred this week at GDC according to multiple sources.

Walmart is of course known for its massive chain of retail discount stores but the company has shown interest in becoming an online content provider. The company already operates Vudu – a platform for purchasing and viewing digital movies or television shows. At one point Walmart was reportedly interested in starting a streaming movie service similar to Netflix or Amazon Instant Video but canceled those plans in favor of Vudu.

Personally, I cannot imagine that Walmart would be particularly successful with a video game streaming service that is competing with tech giants and companies with history in the gaming industry such as Google, Microsoft and Sony (and possibly even Amazon). It feels a lot like your out-of-touch parents trying to talk to you over Snapchat. The Inner Circle will of course keep you updated if Walmart or any other company decides to throw their hat into the ring and develop a video game streaming service.

Writer. Photographer. I leveraged a business degree to play video games. My opinions are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Inner Circle (but they should). DMs on my Twitter are open.